Book trailers are no longer novel (that pun’s free of charge). However, they still bear discussion because of their continued widespread use and debatable effectiveness. I finished Anathem, by Neal Stephenson, about a week ago. Great book. I loved the juxtaposition of cloistered monastic life with raging 21st Century (and beyond, really) culture outside the …
I just found out from Teresa Frohock at Helluo Librorum that I won a copy of The Gentling Box by Bram Stoker Award Winning author Lisa Mannetti. I’ve been intrigued by this book since I came across it on a blog review (Unfortunately I cannot remember which one). Thanks to Teresa for her interview with …
The men loved his company as much as they feared and admired and envied him. The women’s love of Jacques was more primal.
The imagery of this post’s title is awful, but I like the meaning. I’ve hared off and slung a whole bunch of words down on my laptop and am close to wrapping up the first draft of my first novel. Part of me thinks I should have studied more about the craft: plot, characterization, setting, …
I finally finished Neal Stephenson’s Quicksilver a few weeks ago. I had planned to hit Don Quixote next, but, for reasons too complicated and too boring to recount, I opted for 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. I’m a little over half way through and I have to say that I’m getting more and more resentful …
Drifting through the ether of the interwebs, I’ve come across numerous accounts of what makes a good story. Here. Here. And here, for example. Commentors weave common answers related to plot, characterization, diction and so forth into the ongoing discussion. Along with techniques, style and the story itself, the reader’s predilections also determine what makes …
Came across this from Bibliophile Stalker. I dig this particular Q & A from this Robert Freeman Wexler interview: In your own words, how would you describe your style of writing? Or is Robert Freeman Wexler his own sub-category? Every interesting writer is their own sub-category, and every interesting writer has been influenced by a …
I’m taking a little break. I just worked out about six hundred words that aren’t horrible and I felt like telling someone. Of course I’m assuming that someone might actually be reading these posts. I’m all about the fantasy. I’ve read a number of places (Steven King’s On Writing and Orson Scott Card’s How to …
I just started reading Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson. I’m only about 30-some pages into it, but I’m loving it. I love the heft of the thing. I love the words packed onto each page. I love that there are two more volumes of The Baroque Cycle. I have to confess that I bought it for …
In the last two weeks I’ve delved into The Grapes of Wrath (Steinbeck) and I Am Legend (Matheson). I am currently reading The Sun Also Rises (Hemingway). I can’t get enough. Back in high school, somewhere in the late 80’s, I was loathe to read the assigned books. I read a lot of Stephen King …